Mechanical properties of a self-healing fibre reinforced epoxy composites

Inspired by biological systems in which damage triggers an autonomic healing response, a polymer composite material that can heal itself when cracked has been developed. In this work, compression and tensile properties of a self-healed fibre reinforced epoxy composites were investigated. Microencapsulated epoxy and mercaptan healing agents were incorporated into a glass fibre reinforced epoxy matrix to produce a polymer composite capable of self-healing. The self-repair microcapsules in the epoxy resin would break as a result of microcrack expansion in the matrix, and letting out the strong repair agent to recover the mechanical strength with a relative healing efficiency of up to 140% which is a ratio of healed property value to initial property value or healing efficiency up to 119% if using the healed strength with the damaged strength.     

Investigations on grinding process of woven ceramic matrix composite based on reinforced fiber orientations

Fiber orientations play the decisive role in grinding process of woven ceramic matrix composites, but the influence of woven fibers in grinding process is not clear. This paper studies the surface quality and grinding force by comparing different woven surfaces. Through a series of experiments in optimized sampling conditions, we analyze characteristics of the material surface topography height, wave distribution and surface support properties in details. And we find some outstanding characteristics of the surface microstructure. We also study the influence of grinding processing parameters on surface microstructure. The results show that machining surface which contains more parallel fibers is rougher and more keenness than gauss surface. Grinding wheel speed and depth of cut have great influence on surface topography and surface support properties. And it is discovered that grinding forces are also highly dependent on fiber orientations. The mechanism of the grinding phenomena is also analyzed in this paper according to knowledge of fracture mechanics and mechanical damage phenomenology. The research obtained will be an important technical support on improving the processing quality of woven ceramic matrix composites.     

An industrial case study on variability handling in large enterprise software systems

ContextEnterprise software systems (e.g., enterprise resource planning software) are often deployed in different contexts (e.g., different organizations or different business units or branches of one organization). However, even though organizations, business units or branches have the same or similar business goals, they may differ in how they achieve these goals. Thus, many enterprise software systems are subject to variability and adapted depending on the context in which they are used.ObjectiveOur goal is to provide a snapshot of variability in large scale enterprise software systems. We aim at understanding the types of variability that occur in large industrial enterprise software systems. Furthermore, we aim at identifying how variability is handled in such systems.MethodWe performed an exploratory case study in two large software organizations, involving two large enterprise software systems. Data were collected through interviews and document analysis. Data were analyzed following a grounded theory approach.ResultsWe identified seven types of variability (e.g., functionality, infrastructure) and eight mechanisms to handle variability (e.g., add-ons, code switches).ConclusionsWe provide generic types for classifying variability in enterprise software systems, and reusable mechanisms for handling such variability. Some variability types and handling mechanisms for enterprise software systems found in the real world extend existing concepts and theories. Others confirm findings from previous research literature on variability in software in general and are therefore not specific to enterprise software systems. Our findings also offer a theoretical foundation for describing variability handling in practice. Future work needs to provide more evaluations of the theoretical foundations, and refine variability handling mechanisms into more detailed practices.     

Prediction of sediment,particulate nutrient and dissolved nutrient concentrations in a dry tropical river to provide input to a mechanistic coastal water quality model

A Generalised Additive Modelling (GAM) approach is applied to prediction of both particulate and dissolved nutrient concentrations in a wet-tropical river (the Fitzroy River, Queensland, Australia). In addition to covariant terms considered in previous work (i.e. flow, discounted flow and a rising-falling limb term), we considered several new potential covariates: meteorological and hydrological variables that are routinely monitored, available in near-real time, and were considered to have potential predictive power. Of the additional terms considered, only flows from three tributaries of the Fitzroy River (namely, the Nogoa, Comet and Isaac Rivers) were found to significantly improve the model. Inclusion of one or more of these additional flow terms greatly improved results for dissolved nitrogen and dissolved phosphorus concentrations, which were not otherwise amenable to prediction. In particular, the Nogoa sub-catchment, dominated by pasture for cattle, was found to be important in determining dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations reaching the river mouth. This insight may direct further research, including future refinement of processed-based catchment models. The GAMs described here are used to provide near real-time river boundary conditions for a complex coupled hydrodynamic and biogeochemical model of the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon, and can be coupled with a forecasting hydrological model to allow integrated forecasting simulations of the catchment to coast system.     

一种基于FPGA的可变速率帧结构设计与实现

在简述V.35接口的基础上针对V.35接口速率可变的应用需求提出了一种速率可变的帧结构,该帧结构可支持N×64kb/s(3≤N≤32)速率,从而在V.35接口上实现了多种速率的低速业务传输.     

Hierarchical electromagnetic absorption in micro-waveguide stuffed with magnetic media for resin-based composites of graphene nanosheets and manganese oxides

Waveguide configurations of hierarchical system are proposed as new microstructures for composites in absorbing enhancement. Supercritical fluid (SCF) one-pot exfoliation of layered graphite and manganese oxide mixing materials is developed to obtain a hierarchical system, containing graphene nanosheets (GNS) and exfoliated manganese oxides (EMO) in different sizes. Composites with GNS–EMO embedded in epoxy resin matrix are produced for a design of dielectric and magnetic loss integrated absorber. Volume fraction of GNS–EMO in composites is given for an optimal quantity of resin epoxy in fixation and formation. The effect of mixing ratios between electric and magnetic components is provided for the design of dielectric and magnetic loss integrated absorbers. Frequency shifting phenomena are revealed in the component adjusting course. Excluding the offsetting sizes, reflection loss of composites is enhanced as thickness increases. Synergistic effect of electric and magnetic coordinated materials demonstrates the superiority of micro-waveguide structures in GNS–EMO composite absorber.     

An experiential account of phantom vibration syndrome

A small handful of recent studies have addressed a phenomenon known as “phantom vibration syndrome”. This refers to when phone users perceive their device to vibrate, indicating that a call or text is incoming, when in fact the phone did not vibrate at all. Though these studies show that most users do not find phantom vibration hallucinations to be very bothersome, they also find that a large majority of users experience this phenomenon. This paper explores what the striking prevalence of phantom vibration syndrome means for our contemporary relationships with technology. I begin with a review of the theories purporting to explain these data, which largely rely on particular understandings of the brain. Next I develop an alternative theory of phantom vibration syndrome based on insights from the philosophical tradition of phenomenology. This account considers the ways users develop bodily and perceptual habits regarding how the phone is understood and used. By critically contrasting these different theories, we can refine our questions about what the high prevalence of phantom vibration syndrome implies about our contemporary technological situation.